A few weeks ago I noticed a white shape on a pergola post. It was about 1″ or 2.5 cms long and shaped like an upturned boat. Looking closer I could see that it was actually clear with white spots on it and it felt like jelly when I touched it.
I had no idea what it was so took photos whenever anything seemed different.
You can see the progression in the slideshow, it was possibly 2-3 weeks from the first to the last..
The grooves on the post are 1mm apart so you can see that the nymphs are tiny.
A couple of months ago I was walking the dog and I came across something suspicious on the ground, at first I thought it might be dog poo!
I tentatively looked closer.
Not dog poo!
It looked like a cocoon of some kind and I noticed more of them underneath Eucalyptus trees.
This one made me realize they had come from underground.This one was far enough out for the creature to escape the cocoon.This one left the hole completely before the insect emerged.
Back home I was able to discover that I’d been looking at the cocoon of the Rain Moth.
“The Rain Moth’s name stems from the fact that adult moths often emerge after rain, during the autumn months of March and April. They are also known under other common names, Fishermen who use the caterpillar for bait nickname them ‘bardee’ or ‘bardi’ grub. The Aboriginal name is ‘Waikerie’ and one that reflects its short and final life cycle is the Swift Moth. Astonishingly the Rain Moths will only live for one day. For 24 hours their sole role in life is to mate and, if female, to then lay eggs. The moths cannot feed or drink because they don’t have the appropriate mouth parts to do so.”
Although possums are always around here we often don’t see them but recently I’ve spotted some.
Last night two were sitting nicely together on a Gum Tree branch.
This morning two were snuggled up in a hollow branch.
A while later it seemed that one had been booted out of bed.
It hung there for ages and I was concerned it might actually have been stuck on some of the broken branch. There was nothing I could do so I stopped watching, I’ve checked it now and a fluffy backside is just visible in the hollow.
I wonder if they’ll be cuddling on a branch tonight.
I haven’t posted here for a while but after a visit to Basham Beach I was inspired. The weather has been beautiful recently so we decided to take the drive to Basham, only about an hour from home in Adelaide. It was perfect for wandering along the beach discovering what the water had left on the sand.
Basham BeachSeaweed Stacks
There were so many things to see along the beach all left behind when the tide went out.
We went across to the Reception/Shop area to charge the laptop and Fergus wasn’t really Humbugging but he managed to inveigle two big slices of bacon from one of the Station Hands. Although he’s only had tiny bacon scraps before he managed to demolish the lot!
Before we could go anywhere Alex had to use the bumper leads to start the car, not sure what drained the battery which is a bit of a concern. We decided to take a run out to Kings Canyon knowing that Fergus had to stay in the Carpark, there’s no way we’d leave him there alone as suggested, I’m sure he would have disappeared by the time we returned. We took some photos of the area then came back towards camp. There are places you can collect firewood from beside the road so we picked up a few bits then returned to camp for a COOL drink. Can you believe it, we finally in need of a cool one rather than hot?
We had lunch/dinner at the cafe while Fergus went walking around the campsite with a young girl who’s family is camped near us. The menu is limited, we had a choice of burgers, Camel, Chicken, Angus, The Drover’s Special or Vegetarian. My GF chicken burger was a delicious bit of chicken breast.
I’m trying to recharge the laptop so we’ve been walking about the campsite checking out the various shelters and have found one with a table near a power point. Time to shut down and let the laptop recuperate.
I think I phoned 5 Alice Caravan Parks and none had any vacancies so we tried Kings Creek Station and after some wrangling they were able to offer us an unpowered site for two nights. There was a lot of traffic coming towards Kulgera, much less going our way. The scenery changed often from Savannah Woodland to Desert Oak “forests’ and completely flat to a rugged Range with scalloped edges. Flocks of Budgies were swooping and twisting all around is and it was nerve wracking waiting for one to be hit by the car. Other little birds sat on the road expecting cars to get back where they came from. When we arrived at Kings Creek Station we were able to get a third night because one booking only needed site for swags.
Our site is lovely and very convenient to a shelter with tables, benches, BBQ and sinks and the amenities are quite close. We’re happy to be here for three nights even though we’re limited in places we can go with Fergus. We can take him to the carparks at Kings Canyon and Uluru but not on the walks because they’re National Parks. Another camper has offered to dogsit in the afternoon but it would probably take us about an hour to get to the Canyon so we don’t think that leaves us enough time to walk The Rim or very far at all. We might drive to Uluru and have a look around.
All the talk around the place is about the border closures and the difficulties people are facing continuing their trips and also facing quarantine on returning home. We’re relaxed about it, we’ll see how things stand when we need to move on from here. If we have to return home to quarantine we’ll be ordering food home deliveries and Alex will be fixing the silicone around our kitchen sink. That should keep him busy for two weeks and distract him from pining for a round of golf! 🙂
Who would have believed it, shoes feeling like lead weights due to mud on the soles at Farina, a town abandoned because rain was so infrequent. The place is busy now though with visitors coming to see the restorations and all the volunteers carrying out the work. The Bakery is the busiest place and any food left unsold at the end of the day is given to the volunteers.
We visited the old cemetery and walked around the “town” before setting off for Marree.
Muddy streets were certainly a new experience for us here, we thought we’d try out the free Pub Camping but the muddy sites didn’t appeal so we settled for the Caravan Park where at least we have a concrete slab base for the Camper.
Hot chips from the Pub were a treat. The checkin man said we were welcome to light the fire so we went looking for kindling to get it going once we managed to light it and were all set to go and buy fire starters. The “maintenance man” saw us collecting the small bits of wood from across the road and came to our aid with cans of kerosene to get it going, petrol to get it to flash over and then diesel to sustain it. Bushcraft 101 apparently…….he still had eyebrows when he left!
Odd things to see around Marree.
The road out to Birdsville is currently open but I think tomorrow we’ll go back to the Police Station (It was his day off today) and ask about its condition and also find out if he can help us with any pass needed to get into Qld. because of the latest Covid cases in NSW and Victoria.
snaphappi 